Obama-Mania meets March Madness

(originally written March 91th 2009)First let me say, I like sports, when pressed you might even get me to say (shudder), I like politics. This is getting ridiculous however. I am of course referring to the major news story making the rounds on both cable news and sports networks alike that informed us (as we awaited with bated breath) that President Obama had make his “official” picks for the NCAA Tournament! Really? I have long been of the belief that we should be more critical of media outlets than we are of politicians themselves and this “news” only reaffirms this.

Let’s remember something here folks, the President is not a celebrity outside of the fact that he is indeed the President of the United States. He (and his wife) should get the press for doing Presidential things, not of the Paris Hilton variety. During election build-up it is perfectly fine and perhaps even appropriate to cover Obama “the man” and Mrs. Obama “the woman”, after all how could we vote for him if we didn’t know what he looked like with his shirt off, what his jump shot form was like or where Michelle gets her dresses made or how she will decorate the Lincoln bedroom.? Now, however I am only interested in their actions as the 44th President and First Lady. To his sincere credit, the President himself seems even to be a little disturbed by his version of Obamamania. Yesterday, on one of the “bracket” clips running on ESPN, reporter Andy Katz was questioning our Commander in Chief on the strength of schedule of some team to which he responded (while looking more than a little uncomfortable) something to the effect of “Look , I catch ESPN highlights, I don’t have time to stay up to 2am to watch these games,” Amen Sir! He gets it! Why can’t the rest of us? That said, a sitting President has no business appearing on Jay Leno (maybe Conan) either, but I can almost understand that from a PR standpoint.

You want to talk about Obama? Let’s talk about ending the War in Iraq (but escalating the Afghani campaign, which means that nobody’s really coming home anytime soon), Closing the prison at Gitmo Bay and ending torture (however the Executive Orders doing so are very unclear as to whether we can or should actually let these prisoners go nor does it make any mention of stopping the practice of “extraordinary rendition”), or the Economic plan (where is the money actually coming from?). Now before you dismiss this bit on the account that I didn’t vote for Obama (thus rendering my opinions over the next 4-8 years moot of course), let me clarify, first, I like the man a great deal and have seen him speak in person, giving me great hope and secondly, I am not saying that the above plans and strategies will not work nor that they are even bad ideas, rather the point is the man has been in office for two months, let’s give him some space and time to figure this business out and in the meantime report the complete stories. “Yes We Can” can only come to fruition if we give the Big O (no not Oprah) a little space rather than getting his Tourney picks or bantering with Leno’s chin. Secondly, in the name of all that is Holy, celebrities and pundits alike, please stop referring to Mr. Obama as a “great” President. Talk about no pressure huh? Time, and not intention, determines greatness. Is he strong, ambitious, inspiring, well meaning, and (unlike his predecessor) generally interested in the job? Damn straight! Great? Talk to me in 4-8 years, for now I’ll parrot Bill Mahr’s position on religion, I don’t know.

The point of this is not that am I claiming some sort of “super citizen” status, rather that I do my best to do my own research and form my own opinions. There is a reason why I am a proud to be a subscriber to the New York Post and have never read the New York Times in full a single day of my life, why?, ok for one I can’t fold the goddamn thing but really because I take news media for what it is, entertainment. Don’t get me wrong, I like a good laugh (The Post is good there too) so if and when President Obama chokes on a pretzel (Bush) or falls down half a flight of stairs while rumored to be stoned (Clinton), by all means give me a full color front page, but until then, pardon me for not giving a shit that the President thinks the Tar Heels are going win it all.